Media group Sky has announced a two-year partnership with Lewis Hamilton's Mission 44 charitable foundation and a £1 million donation to the latter to help its efforts to support and empower young underprivileged people in the UK.
The two-year program, which is part of Sky's larger £30m commitment to tackle systemic racism in communities, is set to focus on addressing "the disproportionately high rate of school exclusions amongst Black students in the UK", according to Sky.
By focusing on education and employment through grant giving, research, collaboration and advocacy, Mission 44 aims to promote a fair and inclusive society where all young people can reach their full potential.
Although Hamilton remains silent on his F1 future, the seven-time world champion did comment on his foundation's partnership with the Sky group.
"Understanding and addressing issues that lead to young people being excluded from school is really important to me," said Hamilton in a statement.
"Having experienced unfair exclusions during my time at school, I understand how upsetting and stressful it can be.
"When we launched Mission 44 last year, implementing initiatives such as these was a personal priority and I am grateful to have the support of Sky to help Mission 44 take action.
"Through this partnership, I hope we can deliver meaningful change by arming schools with the proper strategies to support and empower young Black students, instead of giving up on them."
Mission 44's partnership with Sky will include numerous initiatives centered around reducing school exclusion rates, with the foundation's research showing that "Black Caribbean students are 2.5 times more likely to be permanently excluded compared with their White counterparts".
"Preventing school exclusions is an issue of social justice," commented Mission 44 CEO Jason Arthur.
"Excluded students often must contend with a range of complex social and economic challenges, such as poverty, racism and mental ill-health, that cause them to face both disadvantage and discrimination in our education system.
"I'm delighted that Mission 44 will be working with Sky to transform the lives of some of the most vulnerable learners in our education system."
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